Ecological Footprint Report And Recommendations

Before I had seen the results to my ecological footprint quiz, I was under the impression that my habits were rather minimalist versus that of some of the individuals I know personally. But the fact of the matter is in order for planet Earth to sustain my living habits, it would take 4.4 total planets to generate enough resources. That number seems absurd, and I now have a better grasp on the reality that I need to make a change to my lifestyle habits. If I am to leave the world behind to someone else, I need to limit my consumer habits and practice a more sustainable lifestyle.

The quizzes raised my overall awareness of my carbon footprint, and brought to my attention the fact that I have a larger negative impact than the average person. To reduce my ecological footprint this semester, there are a couple of things I can do. First, I can start to recycle paper, glass, and plastic. As a college student who spends a lot of time on campus, it is practical to recycle because of the recycling resources that Texas A&M offers. The recycling containers with three stream receptacles are color coordinated and located all over campus, making recycling an easier task. Secondly, I could cut down on the amount of meats that I consume. Cutting out some forms of meat from my diet, especially beef or pork, would help cut out greenhouse gas emissions that are produced from animal agriculture. I am not a huge meat fan, and so this would not pose a problem. Additionally, I have the funds to purchase protein-based vegetarian food items. Lastly, I could walk more or take the bus more frequently. A lot of places are only a 2 to 5 minute drive from my house, and so it would behoove me to walk more. As a college student in a small college town, a lot of buildings and locations are fairly close to each other, and so walking is a realistic

Studies show that education, training, and incentives are causing university students to become more concerned with their environment and the environment of the next generation (Levy and Dilwali, 2000). Providing the opportunity to live in a sustainably built environment has become an important differentiating factor among universities around the world and is becoming increasingly important to students in terms of both how they adopt sustainable practices and their choice of a university. The majority of students and their parents are making acceptance decisions based on a university’s environmental commitment (Princeton Review, 2012). If the University of Central Arkansas would raise the facility fee, then the higher percentage rates

Grinnell College students, faculty, and staff have, for years, tried to make Grinnell College and its community more sustainable. Whether it has been through sourcing food grown locally and without fossil-fuel based fertilizers, advocating for LEED-certified buildings that conserve energy and water, or altering the College’s energy profile through the implementation of large-scale wind turbines, the College has focused on reducing harmful emissions while preserving standard of living (BMUB 2014).

The conversation of introducing environment sustainability actions on campus were solemnly expressed through individuals who had concern for the environment. In the book, “Greening the Ivory Tower” by Sarah Creighton, the author mentions ways students can take action to maintain a healthy environment. Creighton introduces the benefits of protecting the campus from harmful effects of abusing the environment around them. By doing so, she allows the readers to be aware of environmental issues in addition to providing solutions to these problems. Creighton claims, “Five ingredients are key to successful university action: . . . (2) university commitment and demonstrated support for

[1] [source:"What is a carbon footprint?". Archived from the original on 11May 2009. Retrieved 2009-

The University of Montana's carbon neutrality goal by 2020 is fast approaching. The purpose of our class project is to help the university discover potential ways to move towards its goals at a more accelerated pace. Since our campus is a large establishment naturally we have a large carbon-footprint as well as a larger consumption of energy. As it stands, the general campus is somewhat concerned with the sustainability goals of the university. However the primary concern is within the environmental related departments.

Your goal is to provide potential sustainability practices and solutions to your school leadership. Your challenge will be to make suggestions related to the physical building and/or redesign of the school's landscape. Your proposal will need to be based upon research and the research conducted within your school. Explain the environmental benefits for your decisions.

Therefore, information in this article is still useful today. This article is also not yet 10 years old or older; it still has recent and useful information on how some universities are participating in environmental sustainability. Like how it shows that it is some universities policies that are showing more of a drive toward integrating environmental sustainability into universities “rather than that [of] state, national, or international [policies]” (Ralph and Stubbs

With this proposal I hope the change the way that the university thinks about recycling, energy reduction, and water conservation. Savannah State University should want to do these things because they would be doing the environment a great deal. Doing these things would reduce the schools pollution and waste levels. If the university was

The University of Massachusetts Boston prides itself on its accomplishments when it comes to sustainability. The school is built on a landfill site and sustainability has been integrated as a guiding principle in the development of the university (1). Green design has been integrated into the development of the university’s campus center building as well as the new buildings being constructed and renovations being done following the master plan. UMBe Green is the university’s sustainability program which centers itself on the four areas of recycling, education, sustainability, and practice in order to move forward with sustainability (2). UMass Boston has been awarded the “University Sustainability Award” and the Massachusetts ECO-Award for Excellence in Commuting Options for its efforts thus far by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2). Although the university has achieved some great goals there is always room for improvement. One problem that UMass Boston still faces on campus is energy consumption from light usage throughout the day. Though energy saving light bulbs are used throughout the campus, but the lights always seem to be on even when no one is in the classrooms or conference rooms. What UMass Boston should be addressing with this problem is what aspects of the building designs have to be changed, what has to be put into place in order to decrease the energy consumption from light usage on campus, and how this beneficial to the university.

As college student completing my degree through an online format I am making a considerable smaller carbon footprint when compared to those students pursuing their degree through normal methods. I am considered a non-traditional student and therefore I would be commuting to and from school every day which contributes to the unavoidable pollution from operating a motor vehicle. I also produce less waste then a typical student due to all my assignments, papers and exams are all completed electronically which produces zero trash that either has to be recycled or taken to a dump.

When going to the library to watch a PowerPoint presentation, I learned how Wingate University contributes to the sustainability movement. One of the main things that interested me the most was learning about the three aspects

Universities have finite budgets and need to spend them as wisely as possible. If we spend less on recycling, we could spend money on gardens or eco-friendly building upgrades. This will make the university more attractive as a whole because students will see the school saving the students money, through lower cost housing, and see the school become more of a leader in helping our planet.

The concept of footprint analysis is that it can change overtime, depending on the number of individuals living in that particular area and by how much they consume in terms of energy, technology, goods and resources. It gave me an idea of how much land water is needed to support my lifestyle, determine my population, geography, climate, food and needs for energy. Moreover, it gives me a few ideas of what I can do to reduce my ecological footprint in each consumption category such as transportation, housing, food and goods.